Market ekes out gains in choppy trade

The market edged higher last week amid volatile trade on alternate bouts of buying and selling. Concerns of rising domestic and global interest rates weighed on the sentiment. Caution was also partly due to large IPO pipeline. While the IPO of reality major DFL was over last week, another large issue which is from ICICI Bank is set to open for subscription early next week.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 98.90 points or 0.7% to settle at 14162.71 in the week ended Friday, 15 June 2007 from its close of 14063.81 on 8 June 2007. The S&P CNX Nifty rose 26.45 points or 0.63% to settle at 4171.45 in the week ended 15 June 2007 from its close of 4145 on 8 June 2007.

The BSE Small-Cap index rose 7.66 points or 0.1% to settle at 7350.25 in the week ended 15 June 2007 from its close of 7342.59 on 8 June 2007. BSE Mid-Cap index rose 24.70 points or 0.4% to settle at 6180.92 in the week ended 15 June 2007 from its close of 6156.22 on 8 June 2007.

The barometer index BSE Sensex rose 20 points on Monday, 11 June 2007, snapping four days losing streak. Prior to Monday’s rise, Sensex had plunged 507 points in just four trading sessions, to 14,063.81 on 8 June 2007 from 14,570.75 on 1 June 2007.

The market ended with modest gains on Tuesday, 12 June 2007, amid high degree of volatility. Sensex rose 48 points on the back of gains in oil & gas, metal and cement shares. The barometer index regained 14000 level after it had dipped below the psychologically important level in intra-day trade.

The market edged lower on Wednesday, 13 June 2007, tracking weak global markets as investors grappled with a seemingly relentless rise in US bond yields. The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 128 points at 14,003.03.

Firm global markets aided a rebound on Thursday, 14 June 2007, as Sensex jumped 201 points. Stocks rose across the globe as US bond yields eased and US economic data came in stronger than expected.

Sensex lost 41 points in volatile trade on Friday, 15 June 2007. The fall in domestic bourses was in contrast to the firmness in global equities. The US treasury market continued to show signs of stabilising, helping Asian and European equities extend their gains. Rising US bond yields had weighed on global markets earlier this week.

IT stocks attracted buying at declines on a view that the rally which took the rupee to nine-year high against the dollar in May 2007, has lost momentum. IT stocks had retreated over the past few weeks hit by rupee’s surge. A rise in rupee impacts IT firms as they derive a lion’s share of revenue from exports to US.

The IPO of reality major DFL was subscribed over 3 times, with substantial bidding from foreign institutional investors.

Cement shares recovered after data from Cement Manufacturers' Association showed that cement sales rose 10.6% to 14.21 million tonnes in May 2007. ACC was the top draw among cement scrips after its shipments rose 19% in May 2007.

Reliance Industries (RIL) witnessed alternate bouts of buying and selling. As epr reports, RIL will firm up a gas-pricing formula for its Krishna Godavari (KG) basin by July 2007. It also plans to produce crude oil from the KG block in 2008. The production will initially start at 30,000-40,000 barrels per day and peak at about 50,000 bpd.

Copper and aluminium maker Hindalco Industries extended gains on continued market speculation that Alcan may team up with Sterlite Industries to bid for Hindalco. The rumour has lifted the scrip sharply since the beginning of this month.

Time Technoplast ended at Rs 480.35 on BSE on 13 June 2007, a premium of 52.49% over IPO price of Rs 315. The IPO hasd Time Technoplast IPO ended on 23 May 2007, with 49.45 times subscription.

Haryana Capfin settled at Rs 100.80 on Monday, 11 June 2007. The listing of the Jindal group company was following a restructuring scheme at Jindal Drilling & Industries (JDIL). The Casinvest division of JDIL was demerged and vested into Haryana Capfin (HCL) as a going concern

ICICI Bank said on Thursday, 14 June 2007, it would launch a share sale next week to fund robust demand for loans in the rapidly expanding economy. It will offer shares worth Rs 8750 crore ($2.1 billion) each in India and in the United States, with a greenshoe option for 15%, taking the total offering to Rs 20125 crore

The private sector bank will fix an indicated price band for the domestic follow-on offer on Monday, 18 June 2007. The issue will open for subscription on 19 June 2007 and close on 22 June 2007.

The union cabinet on Friday, 15 June 2007, approved passing of an ordinance that would pave the way for government acquiring RBI's 59.7% stake in State Bank of India (SBI). The ordinance route was taken as the State Bank of India (SBI) Amendment Bill, which allows the government to take control of the RBI's 59.7% stake in SBI is still pending in Parliament.

On Monday, 11 June 2007, BSE announced shift of a total of 35 scrips to trade-to-trade segment to be effective from Friday, 15 June 2007. The stocks transferred to trade-to-trade segment include Andrew Yule & Company, Dawn Mills, Kernex Microsystems (India), Parekh Platinum, TVS Electronics and Alphageo (India), among others.

Reliance Capital Asset Management filed initial papers with Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that will track CNX Bank Index. Reliance Banking Exchange Traded Fund would invest at least 90% of its assets in securities that make up underlying index and in the same proportion as the index.

The market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) constituted a panel to suggest suitable measures to address issues relating to difficulties faced by investors while dealing with transmissions of securities in physical and dematerialised mode. The panel will examine various procedures followed by listed companies and registrar and share transfer agents for transmission of physical shares.

On Tuesday, 12 June 2007, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government did not want to reduce overall demand but favoured moderating the expansion in some sectors. The intention is not to constrain demand in every sector. The intention is to curb demand in sectors in which overheating exists, like real estate and housing.

The wholesale price index-based inflation rose 4.8% in the 12 months to the week ended 2 June 2007, lower than the previous week's increase of 4.85%, due to a decline in food and energy prices, data released by the government today, 15 June 2007, showed.

The annual inflation rate was the lowest since end-July last year when it stood at 4.72%. The annual inflation rate was 4.88% during the corresponding week of the previous year.

According to the latest data of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), industrial output was up 13.6% in April 2007 compared with 9.9% in April 2006. Manufacturing output climbed up 15.1% in April 2007 against 11% in April 2006. Industrial output of March 2007 has been revised and stands at 14.5%.

The strong industrial production data triggered concerns that further monetary tightening by RBI may be on cards, belying expectation that the interest-rate cycle had peaked

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Wednesday, 13 June 2007, the government is confident of meeting its 2007/08 export target of $160 billion despite the rise in the rupee this year. The rupee has risen more than 8% against the dollar this calendar year, so far, to be Asia's best performing currency.